Quotes of the day

posted at 10:53 pm on May 29, 2012 by Allahpundit

It was supposed to be a day of triumph for Mitt Romney, when he would at last formally claim the Republican presidential nomination with a victory in the Texas primary. And Mr. Romney was to focus attention on an aggressive new attack on President Obama, highlighting the White House’s role in backing failed companies like Solyndra.

With Mr. Trump, the Romney campaign privately maintains an attitude of quiet exasperation and good-natured eye-rolling, but it is reluctant to criticize him publicly. He is a prolific fund-raiser and willing surrogate whose fame and following can marshal both top-dollar and small-money donors…

Many Republicans have questioned whether Mr. Trump is worth the headache. “I’ve always thought Romney would gain a lot more mileage by stiff-arming Trump,” said Mark McKinnon, a Republican strategist. “I think who Romney stands with says a lot about what he’ll stand for. Associating with Trump seems to only reinforce the narrative on Romney that Team Obama wants to push. Which is that Romney is an out-of-touch rich guy without any real core, which means he’ll associate with anyone if he thinks it will further his ambition.”

By May 1967, U.S. congressman Emmanuel Celler, a Democrat who chaired the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, was expressing “serious doubts” about George Romney’s eligibility…

“I am a natural born citizen. My parents were American citizens. I was a citizen at birth,” he said, according to a typewritten statement found in his archives…

In a paper in November aimed at clarifying presidential eligibility, the Congressional Research Service declared that the practical, legal meaning of “natural born citizen” would “most likely include” not only anyone born on U.S. soil but anyone born overseas of at least one parent who was a U.S. citizen.

“Other people may believe that he was born somewhere else and still kills jobs, but that’s an argument over background,” said Gingrich, speaking in the lobby of the Trump International Hotel where he will attend a fundraiser expected to raise more than $2 million for Romney’s campaign.

“I’m happy to say I believe he was born in Hawaii,” Gingrich said.

***

As Romney continued to attack the president as “hostile” to business, he veered into new territory, passing along the story of a restaurant owner he met with in a closed-door roundtable who suggested adding a new provision to the constitutional requirements of the presidency: time in business.

“I’d like to have a provision in the Constitution that in addition to the age of the president and the citizenship of the president and the birthplace of the president being set by the Constitution, I’d like it also to say that the president has to spend at least three years working in business before he could become President of the United States,” Romney quoted the restauranteur as saying. “You see then he or she would understand that the policies they’re putting in place have to encourage small business, make it easier for business to grow.”

Trump is far from a conservative icon, but his brash, tough-talking style drew enough GOP support that he briefly led the presidential primary field last year. That popularity isn’t lost on the Romney campaign which, eager to attract more grassroots support, is tempting small-dollar contributors with an offer to have dinner with him and the business magnate. The Republican rank-and-file might not quite be as excited about the prospect for a dinner-date with Romney alone…

That political dilemma for Romney is one that could repeat itself through Election Day. Next week, it could mean standing with evangelical leaders to denounce Planned Parenthood’s federal funding. In a month, he might have to deliver a speech to fiscal hawks touting the virtues of Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare proposal. And before Election Day, he could visit the country’s border Arizona to reaffirm support for his hardline immigration agenda.

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Is there anyone but me that thinks it remarkable that a guy like Trump has been in the headlines since the late 80’s? Say what you will about Trump and his ‘trutherism’ but he has a very popular show and all types flock to be on it. He has also managed to make himself a part of national subjects and not necessarily in a bad way. Quite a few peeps like Trump. His show is very popular and it doesn’t do libs any good to insult him other than to sing to their own choir.

Late to the dance on this one, I had a meeting to go to. Regarding AP’s opening quote:

Instead, Tuesday was hijacked by Donald J. Trump…

With Mr. Trump, the Romney campaign privately maintains an attitude of quiet exasperation and good-natured eye-rolling, but it is reluctant to criticize him publicly. He is a prolific fund-raiser and willing surrogate whose fame and following can marshal both top-dollar and small-money donors…

Turns out to be the work of the down-on-their-knees NYT preaching to their choir. Now, for $64,000, who was it on HG that said desperation smells like prison sex?

…true bud!…JugEars and his minions are trying to make Romney’s association with Trump something despicable…but hey!… associating with Bill Ayers or Reverend Wright is something we all want to strive for! Character builders?

Obama can associate himself with every nut case in nation, and that is just fine. He associates himself with a guy who hires more in a month than he has ever,net, and that is a crime . For pointing out the obvious fact that Obama has claimed multiple places of birth. And the BC sure looks awfully good for an old document. Way better than mine.

No one here knows for sure where Obama was born. With all his conflicting stories, Obama may not even know for sure. At times he has claimed to have been born in Kenya, at other times, in Hawaii, at times one hospital in Hawaii, at other times a different one. He can’t even keep straight when he was born. Those who claim they know he was lying when he said he was born in Kenya, rather than lying when he has said he was born in Hawaii, are claiming to know what they can not know, and are acting like a lawyer, his lawyer, as they would pretend to know him guilty of the almost infinitely lesser offense. Maybe he should be paying them.

Agreed. I wish some endorsements had come earlier. Even more, I wish Cruz had responded to Dewhurst’s stupid “China” smear earlier. I didn’t receive a flyer refuting that crap until a few days ago. It might have changed a lot of early voters’ minds.

Obama can’t even keep straight when he was born as 3 weeks before his ‘official’ 50th birthday he said he would turn 50 in a week. Who the hell doesn’t know when their own birthday is, especially a milestone birthday?

…true bud!…JugEars and his minions are trying to make Romney’s association with Trump something despicable…but hey!… associating with Bill Ayers or Reverend Wright is something we all want to strive for! Character builders?

No one here knows for sure where Obama was born. With all his conflicting stories, Obama may not even know for sure. At times he has claimed to have been born in Kenya, at other times, in Hawaii, at times one hospital in Hawaii, at other times a different one. He can’t even keep straight when he was born. Those who claim they know he was lying when he said he was born in Kenya, rather than lying when he has said he was born in Hawaii, are claiming to know what they can not know, and are acting like a lawyer, his lawyer, as they would pretend to know him guilty of the almost infinitely lesser offense. Maybe he should be paying them.

VorDaj on May 30, 2012 at 1:33 AM

It’s hard to remember where you were born through lingering haze of the Choom Gang! C’mon … who among us hasn’t messed up at least once or twice on the country of our birth?!